Schools
Gallant Decatur High Senior Boys Make Grand Valentine's Day Gesture
In a gesture destinated to evoke "awws" for decades to come, the senior boys of Decatur High School chipped in and bought Valentine's Day flowers for all the senior girls
If you weren't a popular kid in high school, you might have winced a little (or a lot) when the annual Valentine's Day flower sale passed you by.
But teenagers will surprise you.
Thursday, all of the young ladies o's senior class got a fresh Valentine's Day carnation, every single one of them, courtesy of the young men of the Class of 2011, who chipped in to buy them flowers.
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This gallant romantic gesture was the brainchild of senior Solomon Jordan.
The flowers are being sold to benefit the DHS Close Up club. Each year, the club takes a group of students to Washington D.C. as part of the Close Up program, that lets students see democracy in action through week-long study of government and citizenship.
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DHS teacher Chris Billingsley, known as Mr. B, tirelessly promotes the trip, recruiting students, arranging service projects, soliciting donations and helping to raise money so that all students can participate, not just those with enough money.
"I wasn't sure they were serious about it at first," said Billingsley, after Jordan, a past Close Up participant, suggested the idea. Jordan is a member of the DHS baseball team and on the staff of Graphic, a comics magazine founded by DHS students.
On the Graphic masthead, here's how Solomon describes himself:
"Solomon Jordan doesn't know how to draw or write. He likes to think though. When he's thirsty, he questions the oasis. When he's hungry, he questions the herd. Or something like that."
One of the things Solomon thought about was flowers, and Thursday afternoon, Jordan asked Mr. B if he had enough flowers for all the senior girls. (And one of the senior girls is named Juliet, Juliet Walizai!) And then, Jordan and a bunch of other seniors went around with a bucket of carnations, handing a blossom to every senior girl in the class of 2011.
"It was so sweet," said senior Molly Petrey.
Mr. B. (who juggled the job title of volunteer florist this week among other teaching duties) says the flower sale goes on until Monday.
But in a time in their lives when some teenagers are prone to playing popularity games, the seniors of 2011 decided, on their own, to be magnanimous, inclusive romantic, all for the price of a pink carnation.
Talk about the Class of 2011. They'll be talking about this gesture at reunions for decades.
